(upbeat music)

- [Gary] Today, from the Global Lane,

Joe Biden sworn in, bringing change,

will Americans be targetedas domestic terrorists?

- There will be no discrimination

between us peacefulconservative Christians

and those who want violence.

- [Gary] COVID-19 still keeping millions

of American kids out of the classroom.

- It is a human rights crime

that our kids are not in class,

there's no data anywhere in the world

that supports that kidsshould not be in class.

- Biden's stimulus plan,

spending our way to prosperity?

Mask mandates and calls

for the deprogramming of Trump supporters,

path to unity?

And it's all right hereon the Global Lane.

Capitol Hill riots, impeachment

and big tech censorship,

is this the new normfor American politics?

How can Joe Biden, Kamala Harris

and other government leaders

bring about national unity?

Well, our next guest says

we're living in what he callsa Father Kolakovic moment.

Here to explain and provide some insights

is American Conservative'ssenior editor. Rod Dreher.

His latest book is, "Live Not by Lies:

"A Manual for Christian Dissidents."

Rod, please explain thisFather Kolakovic moment,

I know you mentioned it in your book,

what is it, why do you thinkit's happening here in America?

- Right, well, Father Tomislav Kolakovic

was a Croatian priest in the 1940s

doing anti-Naziunderground work in Zagreb.

He got a tip that theGestapo was coming for him,

so he escaped the countryand went and hid out

in neighboring Slovakia,his mother's homeland.

When he arrived there in 1943,

he began to teach atthe Catholic university,

he told his students, "The good news is

"the Germans are going to lose this war,

"the bad news is the Communists

"are going to be ruling thiscountry when the war is over.

"The first thing they're going to do

"is come after the church,

"we have got to be ready for it."

So what Father Kolakovic did

was prepare prayer groups of students,

who had come together topray, to study scripture,

but also to study the signs of the times,

and to figure out how toprepare for coming persecution.

Father Kolakovic's prayer groups

spread throughout thecountry very quickly,

every town of any size had one.

Now, his bishops told him,

"Father, you're being alarmist,

"you're scaring people,it will never happen,"

but Father Kolakovic knewthe communist mindset

and he knew what was going tohappen when they took power.

Sure enough, Gary,

as soon as the Iron Curtaincame down in that country,

the Communists came after the church

with a stern, horrible persecution.

The groups that Father Kolakovic set up

were the backbone ofthe underground church

for the next 40 years.

I firmly believe that we are

in a similar moment here in America now,

Christians of all kinds,

Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox,

have got to take advantage

of this moment of liberty we have

to get our networks in place

to prepare for persecution.

- Yes, a good friend of mine

actually was in Prague, is from Prague,

and was there in 1968 as a child

when those tanks moved in.

So big tech, free speech,

is this just a momentary blipon the radar screen, Rod,

or do you expect this will get worse?

- Oh, no, this is definitelygoing to get worse,

in my book, "Live Not by Lies,"

I talk about this as thebeginning of soft totalitarianism.

Soft totalitarianism becauseit's not gonna have gulags

and secret police, thethings that the Soviets had,

rather this is somethingthat's going to be done by,

mostly by big tech limitingaccess to the economy

and keeping it so that only those

who conform with what the regime wants

can participate in the economy.

We're already seeingit happen now in China

with the social credit system there,

which only lets people who conform

to what the government wants

have full access tothe economy and travel,

good jobs, universities, et cetera.

I think we are going tosee an informal version

of that happen right here in America.

And the hammer is going to come down

on conservatives andtraditional Christians.

- So what do you think willhappen in the days ahead

with a Joe Biden presidency?

Now, you mentioned soft totalitarianism,

are we advancing down that road under Joe,

what do you expect?

- Yeah, we absolutely are,

Joe Biden has already talkedabout how he's going to pass

domestic terrorism legislation.

We are going to see peopledesignated as terrorists,

people who have no interestin terrorism at all,

who do not support violence,

but who simply question

the way things are done in this country,

and they do so from the right.

I believe that Christians,conservative Christians,

are going to be targeted too.

And there will be no discrimination

between us peacefulconservative Christians

and those who want violence.

But here's an important point too, Gary,

it's not simply going tocome from the government

and may not mostly comefrom the government,

it's going to come frombig business and big tech,

who will be using their freedomin our free market society

to marginalize and oppress deplorables,

which include political conservatives

and religious conservatives.

- Oh, we've even seen some of that already

with the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you are against wearing a mask,

you become ostracized by big tech,

they'll even shut you down.

So how does the pandemicplay into all of this?

- Well, what the pandemic has done,

and I should say that Ibelieve the pandemic is real,

but what the pandemic has done

is accustomed us to being controlled,

it has put us in a position

and a mindset of fear and control

where we can be open

to being told what todo by the government.

And I think that this has been a dry run,

if you will, for greater control.

And I think that, in so far as Christians

have not used this time,this pandemic time,

to prepare ourselves for the long run,

for what it would mean to be faithful

under a long period of oppression,

then we have wasted our time,

there's no more time to waste.

- Well, more on that then,Rod, as we wrap this up.

Then how shouldconservatives and Christians,

Catholics, evangelicals in this country

respond to all this,what do we need to do?

- Well, I think thefirst thing we need to do

is root ourselves as firmly as possible

in our faith and in community.

I was talking last night to anex-military intelligence man,

a Christian, who said that no Christians

should believe that anything we say,

online or electronicallymediated, is safe.

It will be stored somewhere,

it sounds paranoid, but it's not paranoid,

this is in my book, "Live Not by Lies."

What we have to do most of all though

is prepare to suffer.

We in the American churchknow nothing about suffering,

we've had it good for a long time,

the people who grew up under communism,

I talked to in my book,"Live Not by Lies,"

they know what it's liketo suffer for the faith,

we have to start learningfrom their experience

and be prepared to be steadfast

and to suffer without hating our enemy.

- Yes, I've met withmany suffering Christians

around the world,persecuted for the faith,

and you know what, we canlearn a lot from them.

I agree, Rod, thank you so much for that.

Your author of, "Live Not by Lies:

"A Manual for Christian Dissidents."

Rod Dreher, thank youagain for being with us.

- Thank you, Gary.

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(upbeat music)

- There's some good newsfor folks in New York State,

Governor Cuomo says he'llphase out the lockdowns there

and start opening up.

The northern part ofthe state comes first,

then maybe New York City by late spring.

Cuomo's COVID-19 orders

are among the mostrestrictive in the nation,

but have they been necessary?

Our next guest says thescience has not justified

the extreme political response

that we've seen in variousstates around the country.

Michael Betrus is acoronavirus researcher,

author of the book, "COVID-19:Lockdowns on Trial."

Michael, good to talk to you again.

So first, Governor Cuomo'snow having a change of heart,

so why, has the science changed?

- No, I think the economicdevastation has probably changed,

but that's a good sign,

that's, a game changer for Governor Cuomo.

I mean, if you have Illinois,

or California, or New York,

start to open up and send that message,

that will probably be abit of a domino effect

on other states that have restrictions,

so I consider that a game changer,

may be too little too late,but never too late, right?

It's gotta happen.- Well,

better late than never, I guess.

- Yeah.- Our CBN News

contributing reporter, Chuck Holden,

was recently in Armenia.

He said few people thereare wearing a mask,

Armenians have few restrictions,

their COVID death rate has dropped,

we've seen the same thinghappen in some other countries,

also in various statesright here in the US,

so why is that Michael,

don't we need social distancing and masks

to stop the spread of this deadly virus?

- I think it's an interesting question,

I saw this great Twittervideo a couple of days ago,

and somebody was vapingwith an e-cigarette,

and they tried on several different masks.

Now, the exhale from a vapeis actually larger particles

than what you would have

with a viral particle, with SARS-CoV-2,

and you could see the seepagecoming through everywhere,

the sides, the top andthrough the mask itself.

That's why you don't see any suppression

from mask-wearing areas,

whether it's city, states, or countries,

when the virus comesin, it does its thing,

and then it leaves three to sixweeks later, after its wave.

And that's why you see,

when you look at SouthDakota, North Dakota, Florida,

those areas with light restrictions,

they should get be getting blown away

in both COVID and excessdeaths by restricted states.

They're not, they're allstatistically about the same,

which really just shows you

that the lockdown mitigation efforts,

they just don't really do anything,

with incredible harm tokids that are out of school

and people that aren'tworking and things like that.

- Well, you've questionedthe case and death numbers

that the CDC is releasing,

explain why you question those numbers.

- Well, they question the numbers too,

so going back several months,

they've said that thenumbers are overstated,

that's not minimizing thatCOVID-19 is real, it's real,

it's caused maybe 250,000excess deaths in 2020,

the lockdowns would probably caused

another 100,000 deaths or so.

And so what you see is

when you look at the bighospitalization numbers,

like 130,000 right now,

about 2/3 of those areactually caused by COVID,

people that are in there with COVID-19,

the rest of 'em, because wehave 100 to 150 million people

that have been infected,

you're gonna have a lotof people in the hospital

that are positive with the virus,

but that's not what they're in there for,

they're asymptomatic, they'renot sick from the virus,

but because they have it,

that counts as a deathor a hospitalization.

- And now, it looks like anyone traveling

from another country to the US

will need to be tested for COVID

before being allowed into those country.

So what do you think of that requirement?

- I'm not sure how much it actually

is gonna have an impact

when you've got such widespread

community spread within the United States.

But for me, and my charter, my purposes,

we need to get our schools open,

like it is a human rights crime

that our kids are not in class.

There's no data anywhere in the world

that supports that kids not be in class,

not one outbreak or ahospitalization death

associated with kids being out.

So let's get our kids back in school,

let's get the restrictions lifted

so people can get back to work,

and then we can kinda worryabout some of this other stuff.

- Well, from everythingthat you've been saying,

I'm guessing you believemore is going on here

than just protectingthe health of Americans?

- I'm not a conspiracy theorist,

the restrictions are simply not in sync

with the risks to the general population.

I mean, again, you've got the median age

of deaths for COVID-19, thishovers around life expectancy,

96% of all the people that die

have three or more comorbidities.

As a general population,

if you are healthy and you are under 75,

you are at very low risk.

If you are under 50 and healthy,

you're at practically zero risk.

And while there's Democrat-led states

might have tighter restrictionsby some correlation,

there's a lot ofRepublican-led states too.

So it's really time forgovernors to open up

and protect those that are at risk,

get these vaccines out

and let everybody else get back to normal.

- So do you think we will getback to a pre-COVID normal,

what do you think mighthappen in the future

as more Americans get the vaccine?

- I think COVID is somethingwe're gonna live with forever,

sort of like a cold virus.

I think we will beregistering COVID-19 deaths

or hospitalizations for a very long time.

I do think that the vaccineswill be a game changer,

I encourage everybody to take 'em,

there certainly is some risks,

but these governors arenot messing around, right,

we've got 10 months of lockdowns

and it feels like the best way out of this

is for people to get thisvaccine and we move on.

- Okay, the book is,"COVID-19: Lockdowns on Trial."

Michael Betrus, thanks forsetting us straight today,

we appreciate it.

- Thank you, Gary.

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- How many nickels are in a dollar?

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- Hello, I'm Dr. David Perlmutter,

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and number one New YorkTimes bestselling author.

Wouldn't it be great to boost your energy,

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Well, you can, and I'm gonna show you how,

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(upbeat music)

- Now that Joe Biden has been sworn in

as the nation's 46th president,

where will he take thecountry economically

in the days ahead?

He's already unveiled an ambitious

1.9 trillion dollar stimulus plan.

It includes more generousunemployment benefits,

a $15 per hour minimum wage and $1,400

in additional direct COVIDrelief payments to Americans.

Conservative economists insist America

cannot take on more debt,

they worry it may causehyperinflation and higher taxes,

which may lead the countryinto economic ruin.

Well, here to set us straight

is senior contributor forYoung Voices, Brad Polumbo.

Mr. Polumbo is also an opinion writer

for the Foundation for Economic Education

and the host of theBreaking Boundaries podcast.

Brad, it's good to talk with you again,

so let's look at several ofthese proposals in Biden's plan.

First, stimulus, do you really think

people need $1,400 more perperson in stimulus money?

- No, I don't, and in fact,

a similar proposal that was evaluated

showed that families of five

with three kids and a household income

of more than $200,000

would still be gettingthousands of dollars

in stimulus money, courtesyof the US taxpayer,

under a similar plan towhat Biden has proposed.

So I don't think we should bedoing any form of COVID relief

that isn't targeted to thosewho have actually lost work,

have actually lost income,

have actually been adversely affected,

otherwise you're justspraying around taxpayer money

like candy on Halloween,

and that is absolutelynot fiscally responsible.

- Okay, Brad, let's talk about this.

So more generous unemployment benefits

for those who have lost their jobs

because of the pandemic lockdowns,

so after all, about a million and a half

additional Americans havefiled unemployment claims

since the first of the year,

so what about that, is that a good thing?

- Well, so we do havean unemployment system

for this exact reason,

but I have some concerns

about the extent to whichBiden wants to supercharge it

with a $400-a-week supplement.

This would actually meanthat, for many workers,

they would get close to 90or in some cases even 100%

of what they previously earned

actually working at their jobs,

they would get that much justfrom a check from not working,

And Biden wants to put that in place

through September, 2021.

That's a pretty obvious labor disincentive

that I think would reallyput a slow on the economy

when what we wanna be doing isrevving up the labor market.

So we should not be expanding massively

the unemployment welfaresystem at this time,

we should be keeping it confined

to its original purpose and system.

- How about hard-hit statesand local governments?

Now, Biden is proposing350 billion dollars

for them to bridge budget shortfalls,

what about that one?

- Well, so it's kind ofbased on a false premise,

when you look at the actual tax data,

in many states, tax revenue has,

it fell initially, but hassince gone up significantly,

and most states don'tactually have a budget crisis.

So this money that Bidenwants for quote unquote,

"State and local government relief,"

is actually mostly forbankrupt blue cities

and states like New YorkCity and California,

who had these huge gaping budget holes

before the COVID pandemic.

And this is kind of a sly wayof shoveling them that money

in the name of an emergency,

when it's really justa blue state bail out

at the expense of the federal taxpayers,

which is just not fair.

I mean, if you're in Florida

and your state has managed well,

and why should you have to pay more taxes

for another state not having to deal

with the consequencesof their own governance?

- So it's really rewardingbad budget behavior then,

is it not?

- Yeah, absolutely, andthat's the exact opposite

of how the states' rightssystem is supposed to work.

- [Gary] Okay, Biden's plan

also would give 400 billion dollars

to accelerate vaccine deployment,

reopen schools within 100 days,

how valid is that expense?

- I think nobody really objects

to money for vaccines and testing,

I think that's pretty validacross the board and recognized,

the money with the schools

is a little bit more of an eye raise,

because, in theory, Ithink I'm fine with that,

everybody wants to getthe schools reopened,

but will teachers' unions actually do it,

or will they just take the money

and then continue to hold out forever

and refuse to open schoolswith unreasonable demands?

Which is what we've seen instates across the country.

So I'm a little bit more wary

about funneling money to the schools

unless you can get someironclad concrete promises

that they're going to be reopening.

Otherwise, I think you're just giving cash

to teachers' unions,

and they'll keep holdingour school system hostage.

- And what about raising

the federal minimum wagethen to $15 per hour,

how likely is that a wageincrease of that size

will actually resultin higher unemployment?

- It's madness, that would be a harmful

and highly controversialpolicy in normal times,

but double the federal minimum wage

at the exact moment that small businesses

across the country areon the brink of collapse,

over 100,000 small businesses

have already closed their doors,

and 60% say that theythink they won't make it

through June, 2021,

you think that doublingtheir wage bill right now

is a good idea?

To me, it's madness,

and I think they know that it is

or they wouldn't be tryingto sneak it into a package.

But the reality is

it would put millionsof Americans out of work

and it should not be passedunder the name of COVID relief.

- Brad Polumbo, seniorcontributor for Young Voices,

thanks for setting us straight today.

- Thanks for having me.

- [Narrator] Too often, wecarry baggage from our past.

(man sighing)You know what it's like,

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- Joe Biden says he'll unify America,

but some of the steps he's proposing

may likely lead to more division.

An executive order imposinga 100-day mask mandate

is just one example.

The federal government forcingAmericans to wear masks

won't prevent the COVID-19virus from spreading,

it's a bit like trying to force people

to purchase medical insurance,

regardless of the mandate,

some people just won't comply.

Animosity toward law enforcement officers

is already growing, so whowill enforce the mask order,

defunded police departments?

Who will write the millionsof violators their tickets?

Perhaps they could be throwninto overcrowded jails,

I guess we could alwaysrelease more felons

to make room for mask mandate criminals.

Folks, you see how absurd this is.

And authorities in Germanyare already proposing

that COVID 19 rule violators there

be sent to detention camps.

I wonder if there'll be forced

to wear a yellow COVID-19crown patch on their jackets,

it seems Germany has beendown that road before.

It begins with a spreading of fear,

and then the detention of undesirables,

those deemed to be a threat to society,

is this the country we want?

So you say it won't happenhere in the USA, right?

It's already being considered,

it's like an approach takenout of Mao Zedong's playbook.

Some liberal journalists and politicians

are calling for Trump supporters

and other conservativesto be deprogrammed.

Listen to these commentsfrom MSNBC's Eugene Robinson,

in a discussion with NewYork Times Magazine reporter,

Nicole Hannah Jones.

- There are millions of Americans,

almost all white, almost all Republicans,

who somehow need to be deprogrammed,

it's as if they are membersof a cult, the Trump-ist cult.

- 75 million Americansvoted for Donald Trump,

so how are we going todeprogram all those Americans?

By the way, at least eight million of them

were black or Hispanic,not white cultists.

With all due respect, Mr. Robinson,

maybe it's you who needsan adjusted attitude,

not the Trump supporters.

Yes, unfortunately,some people turn violent

when they don't get their way,

others simply call for theiropposition to be deprogrammed.

That's what the Chinese aredoing to ethnic Uyghurs,

sending them to reeducation camps.

If unchecked, extreme racism

and obsessing over agreement and control

leads to calls for reeducation.

Eventually when that doesn't work,

frustration festers andmorphs into anger and hate,

those emotions caneventually lead to genocide.

You see, it's a slippery slope.

So how does America resistand find its way back?

Instead of pushing the deprogrammingof Trump conservatives,

how about promoting a returnto Judeo-Christian values,

a return to faith?

Instead of turning topolitics and government

to fill the emptinessthat many of us feel,

why not seek a relationshipwith the creator?

God is the only one whocan truly fill our void.

Jesus encouraged us in Matthew 6:33 to,

"Seek first the kingdomand his righteousness,

"and all these things willbe given to you as well."

Yes, the things thatwill truly bring about

a United States of America,

love for our neighbors,equality, prosperity,

and the peace that we all desire.

Well, that's it todayfrom the Global Lane,

be sure to follow us on Facebook,

YouTube, SoundCloud,iTunes, Parler, Twitter,

and now on MeWe, and until next time,

be blessed.